Summer Lovin'(Had Me a Dragon Blast)
by QuiteAlotOfSodaPop
Summary: It has been years since Jake permanently defeated the Dark Dragon and now with a higher number of unskilled dragons than ever before, The Dragon Council take an unorthodox means of training them all: a Summer Camp program. With Jake now spending his summer among many new and old faces, will he catch on to the dragons trying to win his affections? Slash, based on Season One canon.
1. The Draconian Baby Boom

**-Alright! This my first requested fic, this will mainly focus on the canon from the first season but I'll still sneak in some things from later episodes. First part is gonna explain why and how the camp came together.**

"Chapter 1 : The Draconian Baby Boom"

No one saw it coming. And when they did it was too late.

In 1972 when Luong Lao Shi (at the time known as the Chinese Dragon) defeated the Dark Dragon for the first time, a strange plague swept over the magical world. It was a plague that would affect nearly a whole generation worth of magical creatures for years to come.

A few years later, shortly after settling down in New York City, Lao Shi was idly dusting off a counter in his shop when his six year old daughter asked him a ground breaking question.

"Father?" she asked warily, scratching her upper arm. "How come I can't breathe fire like you?"

He furrowed his brows in sadness, It was rare but not unheard of for the young of even a pure-blooded dragon to lack their special traits. "Because my dear, my more dragon-like genes simply... skipped your generation. Nothing to worry yourself over."

Patting her on the head and leaving her off to play with her mortal friends, Lao Shi would have left it at that. If not for the reports that came in through the following weeks.

"Hey old man, take a look at this." Fu threw a newsletter over to him and urged him to read on. "Looks like a bunch of dragons are being born with next to no powers. Crazy, right?"

He read the edition hundreds of times and still has yet to find the answer. His children's lack of power wasn't so much a genetic fluke as it was a curse. Dragons were never a common species but they had a fairly stable populace until late. In the few short weeks after the newsletter's publication, word seeped through the crowds that many significant dragons were unable to produce young, and those who were successful found their child to either lack powers or die very young.

The implications sent chills up the older dragon's spine. He was simply glad that his children were alive and happy. Soon after the influx of magically and physically sterile offspring, an even crueller cut was made to dragon and magical kind.

Lao Shi remembers it like it was yesterday. He had made coffee for him and Fu when a defunct hand-crank television came to life, broadcasting a faerie news channel.

"Word had come in that many magical creatures, primarily children, have contracted a strange and highly infectious disease. In documented cases, the symptoms can appear from hours to a day after infection and mainly target the nervous system. At least thirteen have sadly perished from complications. Their names included... "

Lao Shi buried his head in his hands. Of course Susan wasn't affected by the deadly virus, she held so little dragon DNA that it couldn't infect her. But the sheer thought of some many creatures losing their family to something as unbiased and preventable as disease was heartbreaking. For months afterwards as the death toll climbed higher and higher, he would send out condolences to the families who had lost their loved ones. One he especially remembers was Dragon Councillor Kulde who never revealed exactly who he'd lost to the plague.

By the time the mermaids were able to develop a vaccine, 25% of the known magical populace had died out. And 75% of the time the coffins were child sized.

Lao Shi feared greatly for his grandchildren, believing that either they would be born mortal or they would suffer at the hands of another cruel cut. When his very human son-in-law passed the newborn Jake into his arms, he felt as though he was entrusted with a delicate glass doll. It would only be over a decade later when the threat of the disease and the lack of draconian powers ebbed off, that Lao Shi would train his eldest grandson to become a strong and capable dragon.

But an even stranger shift in population had yet to come.

**/X\**

"WOO HOO!" Jake screamed to the heavens, holding a sheet of paper high above his head. "Five A's!" He had honestly worked himself to the bone for the tests and was reaping the spoils of war.

He felt on top of the world. And why shouldn't he be? It's not everyday you complete your High School exams with flying colours. The past few years had been hectic, with Rose disappearing, the Dark Dragon being vanquished, and with Jake maturing into handsome, respectful young dragon – okay maybe not respectful.

Trixie clapped him on the back proudly. "There's my genius dragon master! Now tell me what are we gonna do to celebrate?" She had recently completed her own set of exams and showed promise in becoming a doctor.

"I'm thinking arcade. I going through Pacman withdrawal." Spud chimed in. Although preferring a casual approach to school work, Spud did carry a high enough score to get quite a few architectural schools interested.

Before they could decide on a destination, a small meadow sprite flew out from the bushes and landed on Jake's nose. Blinking away the fairy dust, Jake quickly regained his composure and barely flinched as the tiny creature was nearly shouting into his eyes.

"Mister Dragon!" She squealed with unbridled happiness. "Have you heard the great news?"

"What great news other than my GPA score?" he joked, not realising what was to come.

The sprite ignored what he said and replied in a hurried tone. "Go to Lao Shi, he'll explain everything. I got to tell everyone!" She flew off without a care into another group of bushes.

Unquestioningly, the three started their way down to Jake's grandfather's shop, having grown accustomed to meeting there for whatever reason.

"That was odd." Trixie broke the air, thinking over what the sprite could have meant. "You think something big is happening down in the magical community?"

"Not that I would have known of. I've been so busy that past few weeks, if something big did happen Gramps would have told me." Jake explained, blindly pressing the traffic button. "At least it doesn't seem like a doomsday device or an ogre raid." He shuddered at the memory of a particularly violent gang of ogres that raided the Troll market. Due to the laws of the Troll market they were in turn violently "disassembled" all over Manhattan.

"Must be something really, really big. Going by the amount of unglamoured fairies that are out and about." Spud pointed out the small chatty groups of human-sized fae folk that seemed to be so engrossed in the unknown news that they had forgotten to glamour their wings.

Now that Spud had mentioned it, Jake did notice that a lot of creatures were out in the open. Sprites flew haphazardly past his head, Brownies weren't even trying to hide themselves, and he even saw a flock of harpies soaring above the skyline. It was odd as being unglamoured and in public was punishable by fine or arrest under the Dragon Council. Any human that was walking past either didn't notice or didn't care that the streets had become slightly more magical.

Just as he heard the bell of his Grampa's door ring, he and the other two teenagers were roughly pulled inside and dragged into the back room.

"Kid you'll never believe this." Fu patted down the dragon's red jacket anxiously. "We just had a Baby Boom."

Jake squinted confusedly. Wasn't a Baby Boom an event that happened decades ago? "Sorry Fu, but I ain't following ya."

The shar-pei rubbed a paw over his face and sighed. "Back in the 70s, the magical population, especially the dragon one, dropped like a brick. Only 6 out of 10 kids would survive to adulthood and half of them would be either non-magical or unable to have kids of their own. Now we just got word that there's hundreds of healthy tots running about!" He smiled widely, unaware of the humans' lingering confusion.

Spud was the first to comment. "So you guys had like a sterility virus and now it's cleared up?"

"Well that's part of the reason. Gramps thinks that it was a series of curses that came with defeating the Dark Dragon the first time. Guy used to have his claws in some nasty magic, destabilising our numbers would have been child's play to him. Needless to say a lot of creatures are happy that they can have kids again." He flipped on one of the tv's, showing a similar faerie news broadcast.

"Breaking News just in! After a survey was conducted over ten major magical cities, researchers found that the successful birth rate had risen dramatically over the past four years, coming to a record breaking five thousand births this Spring alone! Be careful young lovers, you're not of the blue yet!"

Grampa walked into the room with a rare aura of joy decorating his form. "It seems that you're aware of what has happened." He greeted them with a bow, which was returned by all three teens.

"We got a lot more little monsters running around that's what I know." The younger dragon stated, laughing internally at the image of baby troll or cerberus. "I guess it's plenty enough reason for everyone to be walking around."

Gramps nodded, his face becoming sterner. "It also means that your duties will increase ten-fold if the numbers continue to rise. Plus there will be a higher amount of hybrid creatures than before."

"You taking like fairy plus centaur or just fairy plus human?" Trixie asked, seating herself down by the coffee table. "Cus, if the second happens, there is gonna be a lot of confused people walking around."

"Precisely." Grampa agreed, turning on the kettle. "During the past thirty years magical creatures have been marrying into human families more than before. It was considered a safer choice as human-creature relationships produce young less likely to be affected by curses or supernatural diseases. This of course has caused the lines separating mortal and magical to wane and thin."

As the tea was served out, Lao Shi continued to talk of what had occurred during the previous decades, trying to keep his composure. He talked of how the Dark Dragon may have been responsible for what had happened and how truly overjoyed the magical community was to shrug off his curse.

"Maybe... " Spud stared into his cup, watching the brown-green liquid swirl. "Since Jake killed him for real, it became null. That's how curses work right?"

"In theory yeah." Fu answered, chewing on a biscuit. "The Dark Dragon was pretty arrogant, so he never made his curses extend beyond his "natural" lifespan. When we took him down the contract for the curse ran out. "

"And still I feel responsible for what happened." Grampa bowed his head in shame. "He likely created all those curses because of his original defeat. To either get revenge... " He took a long sip of tea before finishing. "Or to leave me with the guilt."

Jake wrapped his arm around his Grandfather and pulled him closer. "Look Gramps, even if he did do it after you slam dunked him, he likely would have used the curse sooner or later. He was a jerk like that."

"Thank you Jake, but I will still continue to make peace with those affected by his touch. I feel it is the right thing to do."

"Going by how fast people are making up for it, you don't need to." Trixie said suggestively, placing down her empty cup.

Just then a pixie morphed into the room wearing a courier's outfit. "Mr Long and Mr Luong?" she asked in a dead monotone staring at the letter in her hand. After she had given the message and got a nice tip she disappeared, leaving them with the ominous letter.

"What's it say Gramps?"

"It says that the Council wishes for us to join in a conference on Draco Isle tomorrow night. Apparently the recent rise in numbers is effecting dragonkind as well." Grampa raised an eyebrow as he reached the end of the letter. "That is unusual... "

"What is?"

"It also says that since the defeat of the Dark Dragon, many previously mortal people are becoming dragons."

Jake was taken aback. Was this also a curse or was it an effect of permanently defeating the Dark Dragon those short few years ago? Either way his thoughts wandered to the future. Surely with so many people becoming dragons, they would have to reveal themselves to mortalkind. He himself had revealed his true form to his father barely three years ago and the panicky mortal man had taken it in his stride.

"So will it be a fancy event or a dress casual thing? Cus I don't want to show up in my gym shorts." Spud commented, draining the last dregs of his tea.

**/X\**

Draco Isle had certainly changed since Jake's last visit. Oh sure the buildings were still there, the gardens and streams were as beautiful as always, and the five (with a new representative for Asia since Chang's betrayal) Dragon Councillors stood at the steps of the Auditorium as they did when Jake first arrived. The big difference was the sheer number of people that were walking around with half-morphed dragon bodies. Jake and his family had arrived on special request that even his mortal friends should join them. So far Trixie and Spud were dazzled by the Isle's beautiful landscape and Jake's parents were busy taking snapshots of everything and anything they could find.

"Ahh Lao Shi and the Long family." Councillor Omina greeted, shaking their hands and leading them up the steps. "We were waiting especially for you."

"How come? Is the Jakester receiving an award?" Jonathan Long, ruffled his son's hair, feeling extremely proud of his accomplishments over the past few years.

Councillor Andam explained as they made their way into the auditorium. "Many speculate that the Dark Dragon was responsible for our drop in numbers over the past years. And that with his death, our numbers will soar higher than they ever did before."

"Your role in defeating the Dark Dragon focuses much praise onto you. Many dragon families wish to thank you personally for what you have done. Myself included." The new Councillor said graciously, her yellow robes fluttering as she moved.

"Well I do what I do-" Jake's not-so modest comment was interrupted by Councillor Kukulkan.

"And we wish for you and Lao Shi to address the people publicly."

"Say what?" Jake asked nervously before the Council hurriedly brought him to the front of the auditorium. Seating him and his grandfather right beneath the Council seats, his family and friends sat nearby in the front, his mother producing a video recorder from her travel bag.

The seats began to fill as a horn signalled the meeting's start. Many of the new faces were of mortal stock and some were so clueless on how to control their powers that they were stuck mid-way between dragon and human. One face Jake recognised among the rows was Fred Nerk, the Australian dragon he had met years previous, staring straight at him with a mischievous smirk. Returning the expression, Jake calmly waited for the Council to begin their protocol.

The Councillors rose from their seats to address the crowd, Councillor Kulde leading the conference. "I welcome you all to Draco Isle. I am aware that many of you are not familiar with our world, especially among those who have recently transformed into dragonkind." Gesturing to Lao Shi and Jake he introduced. "This is Luong Lao Shi and his grandson and protégé Jake Long. In 1972 Lao Shi defeated an entity we call the Dark Dragon. Being a practitioner of dark magic, the Dark Dragon laid multiple curses upon the magical world, the most obvious being a curse of sterility and weakness among dragons born after 1972. Few dragons that were viable didn't posses any draconian powers and often married into human families."

He passed the torch to Andam, who used the plasma panels behind him to demonstrate his point. "Due to the nature of these marriages, the young were more able to fight off the curses but were more likely to be more human than dragon. When young Jake Long defeated the Dark Dragon permanently four years ago, it set off a chain reaction of previously human beings to redevelop dragon powers. Hence why so many of you are here today. Will Misters Luong and Long say their piece?"

Grampa stood up first, bowing to the crowd respectfully. "I defeated the Dark Dragon many years ago in Hong Kong when I was still a fresh face to the world. Being the dragon representative of China I was called to investigate a sighting of him by a friend who betrayed me then and many years later." His eyes flickered, locking the pain of that time behind them. "I supposedly killed him by drowning in the Hong Kong harbour and the curses appeared soon after his death. Unfortunately we were all proven false four years ago."

He looked over to Jake, urging him to continue. The younger dragon looked nervously at the crowd and straightened his back, deciding to explain how he rediscovered the Number 1 threat in the magical world.

"When I was thirteen I came to Draco Isle to go through a series of tests that would determine my worth as a protector. During the final test me and a fellow student came in contact with the Dark Dragon. He'd been lying low for years and was being info'd by an old Council member, the same one that would betray me and my Grandfather. Four years ago the Dark Dragon got the drop on Gramps and was trying to set a trap for me. When me and my friends overpowered him we killed him permanently and I guess we broke the curse." His eyes darted around the room, trying his best not to seem disinterested or overly causal. A thumbs up from Trixie and Spud proved that he did well.

"Thank you Misters Luong and Long." The new Asian Councillor nodded, pulling out and reading from a scroll. " Now with, hopefully, the majority of you here, the most pressing matter is how we can be able to train so many young dragons at once. Draco Isle's amenities were only built to nurture a hundred students at a time. Accommodating our new charges could prove difficult."

Just then Jake thought of a perfect solution, which he accidentally spoke aloud. "It's not like we could make a summer camp for all them. Keep it out of sight and keep all the students in one place."

"Jake!" Lao Shi gave him a whispered scold, concerned about making a bad impression. "This is a very serious matter. The Council will have to create a more feasible solution than a summer camp."

"Actually... " Kukulkan pondered with a pleased look. "Such a feat could prove valuable."

"Pardon?" Kulde questioned, taken aback by the other councilman's opinion. "Please explain you theory brother Kukulkan."

The Central American dragon smiled in confirmation, leaning towards the audience. "The majority of the newly found dragon populace is within the age range of twelve to eighteen, likely due to the natural development of powers in their bodies and the fact that many were born from the previous non-magical generation. By keeping this unpredictable age group in a definite area, we can properly divide attention between all groups. What will happen post-Summer will be to the choices of the parents or students."

"I say we call a vote. Me and the other Council Members will decide amongst ourselves in private. Until we return we ask that you all stay on the Isle for the duration. We will sound the alarm when we've reached a verdict. Meeting is adjourned." Kulde concluded, pounding a gavel.

As the five Councillors retreated to an undetectable room, Jake slumped over in his seat. Mentally exhausted by the meeting, he barely notice the dumbstruck look upon his friends faces.

"You did a-mazing Jakie!" Trixie praised, patting his hair down. "You really held yourself together there."

"Yeah it's not everyday you have to decide the fate of hundreds of people." Spud commented, gaining a displease glare from the others. "I'm just sayin'... "

Jakes eyes wandered over the crowd. There were older, wizened dragons blinking in disbelief as if caught in a strange dream. There were young and confused families attempting to breathe dragon fire and trying to reverse their morphs. At first Jake saw the situation as a big mess, some of the older dragon masters would vehemently deny the previously-human students and the students would vehemently deny that they had been turned into dragons. Then his eyes passed over small family units, the groups were talking animatedly amongst themselves while is their arms held newborns with scales and fangs.

The American Dragon sighed. Even if the whole "Boom" would cause more than a fair share of problems, as any event would, it would have a positive end result. There would be a lot more cocky teenage wyverns flying around but there would also be young fledgeling that would hold immense potential as guardians or masters. He thought about his sister Haley, she was growing into a strong young dragon, perhaps she'll grow into an even greater protector then him. He let a smile sneak through his lips as she gave him an encouraging hug.

The alarm sounded merely minutes later.

"The Council has reached a verdict." Kulde stated, his voice deafening all sound. "We will go forward with Mister Long's idea and create a private encampment for all dragons between the ages of twelve and twenty. Older dragons shall be taught personally on the Isle itself. Such training shall be spread over the next three months until the start of the regular school year. Those who wish to train but keep their professions should address their specifications to Councillor Omina after the meeting. Preparations shall go under way immediately. Meeting is adjourned." The gavel was pounded one last time before the Council sat back down.

The auditorium stood still for a whole minute. Jake and his grandfather stared at each other incredulously, Jake was only running his mouth and yet the Council took it as a genuine solution. Soon the auditorium was filled with pleased cheers and praise, leaving the master and student pair in a state none too similar to drunkenness.

"Misters Luong and Long?" Omina broke them out of their spell, speaking in a quite tone. "We wish to speak to you and your family in private."

Without question the Long family followed the Council into the same undetectable room they used for voting. They shifted uncomfortably as they sat on the rough stone chairs and scanned the intricate marble wall carvings. The Council may be uptight but they still had some mad style.

"Now that we have come to our decision, we wish to ask something of you." Kulde began, allowing the new Councilwoman to speak.

"We ask that Jake himself joins the program."

"Say what?" The younger dragon blurted out. "But I've already completed most of my training, why would I need a whole summer full?"

"It's not a measure of how well you have been taught. It is a way of sending a good impression to the new faces that you'll be learning with." Andam reassured calmly. "With them now knowing of your accomplishments, many of our new students will look to you as a guide to the magical world.

"Why exactly does he need to be a guide?" Jonathan asked, still not well versed in how the magical world functioned. "Shouldn't these kids have a least some inkling of what's happening?"

"I'm not going to lie to you Mister Long, but the recent generation of dragonkind is ignorant." Kukulkan admitted shamefully. "Ever since 1972, the parents of these dragons have kept them under lock and key out of fear of the curses. Not to mention those who were born into fully mortal families would only learn that the magical world existed today. Jake and the other World dragons on the other hand are well versed in the creatures and areas beyond dragonkind. Having them among the new students will make them indispensable."

Jake groaned and fell back into his seat. "But I'm seventeen, a lot of these dragons are going to be older than me. How am I suppose to get them on the same page as me?"

The Norwegian Dragon raised his brow in amusement. "You've taken down countless monsters and most of the dreaded threats to the magical world, yet you fear your own peers?"

"High School, Kulde. High School." Susan explained in a knowing tone.

"Even so, he won't be the only experienced dragon there. I understand your rival Fred Nerk is interested in our endeavour?"

"Really?" Jake tried to mask his delight. Having not seen any of the other World dragons for years, it would be refreshing to catch up with them. "I haven't seen Nerk since my evaluation. How has he been doing?"

Kulde chuckled, glad to see that the American was excited to see his fellow protectors. "He's been doing fine but with a recent rise in numbers, he is finding it difficult to keep up. Australia has become a very popular country to settle down in. Humans and creatures alike."

Lao Shi finally expressed his main concern. "With so many World dragons in this training program, how can they in turn watch over their protectorate?"

Andam produced a long list of names from his robe, giving it to Grampa to read. "We thought of that and many of the older dragons would be glad to pitch in every once in a while. Under the masters' watchful eyes of course. Any other concerns?"

The family stared blankly on the scroll for a long time. Still not believing that such a thoughtless comment could lead to such a well orchestrated plan. The silence was broken when Haley made her concern known.

"Can I come? If Jake gets to go, I get to go!" She stood on the table proudly. Twelve years old or not, she still felt a need to validate her powers and compete with her brother.

"Haley, don't you have dance classes over the next few weeks?" Her father asked warily.

"To oblivion with dance class! I want to actually train with fire and moves, not just show up to some stage mothers!" She argued, feeling that her restricted schedule had cut into her training as a dragon.

With a quick discussion and an even quicker decision, Haley smiled wide as the Long family and Jake's friends left the auditorium. As Jake discussed how he could still spend time with Trixie and Spud over the summer, he failed to notice the many amorous looks pointed his way.

**-Ahh! The beginning to a shameless plot heavy Summer Camp Episode! I really enjoyed writing this and I hope you peeps can leave a review or suggestion. :D**


	2. Camp Wormfire and The Suitors

"Chapter 2 : Camp Wormfire and the Suitors"

Preparations for The Camp was completed in the short weekend following the conference. Jake had expected it to take weeks if not months for such a sudden tactic, but was proven wrong when he had been summoned by the Council on the 31st of May to take the first few looks at the chosen location.

The next day and a half would be a whirlwind of luggage and sending goodbyes off to close family friends (and in Jake's case his regular "co-workers"). The magical creatures of Central Park had initially resisted, believing that their protector was abandoning them, but their fears were quelled when Lao Shi presented the multiple old masters that would be taking Jake's place. They were nice guys, if not strict and set in their ways, all being former teachers, they moved slower but with more grace than the American Dragon and had obviously taken the job out of principle if not boredom. They'd keep the city from burning down without him.

Currently he was nearly passing out on the sitting room couch, his head propped up on a fully packed suitcase while his feet had long since been buried by his mother sorting through his summer clothes. She had gathered armfuls of his and Haley's wardrobes and was critically throwing them over her shoulder. Haley had been easily, she had already organised her clothes by time and function, her bright flowery suitcase sitting primly on the armchair.

"Your yellow shirt?" She asked, more to herself than him. She tossed it at his feet and tutted like she had done with many other articles. "How about this suit? There will definitely be a formal event at some point. Oh! In that case I might need to pack your hanfu... "

She held up the gold/red traditional robe proudly, having convinced Jake to wear it during the Chinese New Year and again during the Lantern Festival. Jake tried to groan out a no, having been loudly mocked by Brad Morton (who through a stroke of leprechaun level luck had gone to the same high school) after he had seen him being fitted, and how Grampa stared at him with wary eyes, reminded of his younger self. Susan ignored his silent pleas and tucked it neatly next to his pyjamas.

Jonathan came barrelling out down the stairs minutes later, two massive gear bags tucked under each arm. "Alright happy campers! I got your packs ready!" He smiled widely, not noticing how with each step another item would fall out of the bags. Being a former Cougar Scout, he delighted in giving his children the most obscure survival tips. "Can you feel it sport? A whole summer on a beautiful tropical island, surrounded by your peers and needing only your teamwork to last the night. It'll be just like the Swiss Family Robinson!"

"Or Lord of the Flies." Jake remarked critically, having read the censored version of the book in his Junior Year of English. He sat upright, the hard exterior of the suitcase beginning to dig into his neck. "The Council is whack. How is a camp suppose to sort things out? I'm not even sure it's a tropical island, for all I know it could be the Arctic Circle!"

"That's good! You won't have to wait to go ice fishing!"

Jake gave a last solitary groan before he was silenced by a pair of underwear landing on his head, courtesy of his mother.

With a last few hours of mindless fun with Trixie and Spud, he departed at 7:30 pm with the promise of letters and updates on how his training would do.

Standing at the entrance to the airport terminals, he wished that he didn't have to leave them.

"Remember not to get yourself killed right?" Trixie teased, giving him a tight hug.

Spud joined it seconds later with his own anecdote. "And never eat mushrooms you can't recognise! My uncle lost a liver to that." Jake smiled softly, he was truly going to miss them.

The Council – not trusting mainline magic transportation – had sent for a small private plane to silently pick up the Long family (and a few unidentifiable people that Grampa deduced as being equally important) and bring them to an undisclosed island in the North Pacific Ocean. No details were mentioned other than it was an island that was a few miles away from any other civilisation and that it had been in disrepair for decades if not centuries.

Haley, despite her unconstrained enthusiasm, was beginning to feel tired as her bedtime ticked closer and closer. By the time they were flying over Utah, she had fallen into a deep, immovable sleep, still buckled down and with her face pressed against the window.

Jake laughed silently at the display, turning his attention to his own window across the aisle. He looked down at the cloud cover, the distant desert lights of Salt Lake City barely piercing the heavens. It was a lovely sight really, although he could have easily obtained it by shifting into his dragon form and flying solo.

He guessed that was the beauty of being both a dragon and a human, the things that restricted you as a human were absolved the moment you turned into a fire breathing reptile but the things that restricted you as a dragon absolved when you became fleshy unremarkable human. He thought of the many people suddenly turning into dragons, have their lives benefited from their transformations? Or had they worsened? He shook his head, who wouldn't want to be a dragon? With Las Vegas just barely in sight, Jake had slipped into his own slumber, the drones of the aircraft and the words exchanged between his parents and the other families lulling him to sleep.

**/X\**

"Jakester? We're here."

Jake awoke hours later, his eyes strained painfully against the light of the dawn beaming through the windows. He had fallen asleep in the same position as he had found Haley in earlier and had a stain of dried spit on his jacket sleeve. Wiping his dry lips with said sleeve, he was suddenly made aware of the many faces glaring out the windows. Taking his own glance, he saw a strange and wonderful site.

Wyrmfyre Island.

Shaped like a coiled, resting dragon, it had originally been a holy ground for the Councils of long ago, but had fallen into disuse after a horrible attack led by the Unseelie Court wiped out it's inhabitants, forcing the Council to relocate to the Isle of Draco further south. Ever since, it had been completely abandoned, yet signs of civilisation were still visible. A crumbling temple lay on the very top of the snow-capped mountain range that mimicked the ridges of the dragon's spine, the raised "head" of the island was dotted with what used to be farmhouses, and the massive stone pathways that were built to navigate the land stood out like varicose veins on scaled skin.

It wasn't as far north as Jake had feared, but is wasn't as far south as Jonathan and Haley would have wanted. Wyrmfyre was a strange place ecology speaking, although it boasted golden sandy beaches (which going by the island's theme was suppose to mimic a dragon's hoard) and rare tropical fruit trees along it's coasts, the entire centre of the island seemed to be nothing but large conifer forests. From a large divot in the centre of the island, Jake could see hot springs and volcanic lakes pouring out to form rivers that seemingly flowed beneath the dragon's coils and out to sea.

He was so enraptured by the sight that he barely noticed everyone buckling down tight for landing. His body violently snapped backwards as the sudden dip in gravity made it self known.

The plane did a risky landing on the flat head of the island, which had been pre-emptively cleared for landing and subsequent take offs. Getting off the plane was akin to intoxication as they stepped down onto the dusty ground, everyone present was taken aback by the sheer beauty of the island.

"It's so... picturesque." Susan whispered, wondering if she could ever in the future do wedding services on such a ideal location. "I had honestly expected it to be all bog and mosquitoes."

"There is a swamp on the lower west side of the island but we made sure that there'll be no mosquitoes on the camp sites. Kulde hates them." Andam said, apparating seemingly out of no where with the rest of the Council.

Kulde replied curtly, his face tinged pink. "Only because I am allergic." 

"Then that spider in Bangkok was just nerves." Omina teased, causing the rest of the order to laugh while the Norwegian Dragon huffed embarrassedly.

"Now to begin. Preferably without comments on my issues with insects." Kulde greeted the arrivals, sending a sharp glare to Andam before turning back to the group. "I welcome you all to Wyrmfyre Island! Former base for the World Dragon Council and now home to all pre-adult dragons."

"The main camp site is more inland but we expect to expand once the rest of the students arrive." The new Councilwoman (who Jake had learned, was named Sakura) explained, gesturing for the group to follow her down one of the stone pathways.

The arrivals followed without complaint although some feared what laid in the forests ahead. The path was littered with fallen logs, moss, and had large tufts of wild grass sprouting from it's cracks. It was impossibly both dark and bright at the same time. The canopy allowed only the smallest beams of light through and when they group became accustomed to the light level, they could make out the most minuscule leaves in the tallest trees. Jake made sure to watch his head as a low hanging birch branch smacked him on the forehead.

"The camp site is just up ahead. By the sounds of it the cabins are almost finished. You will find that every language will become universal as there is a communication ward around the island, very much how we were able to address the people on Draco Isle." Kulde commented, keeping a brisk pace.

Kukulkan turned to the Longs and said excitedly. "The workers are extremely proud of the changes they have made to the valley. It rests on the "neck" of the island and used to be a hunter's camp. We found it a fitting for our endeavour. Hopefully in the next few days all areas of the island can be used."

They broke through the dense woods and were blinded by the sudden rush of light to their eyes. When they recovered, they were pleasantly surprised to see something none too similar to a normal American summer camp. There were cabins, a gigantic lake, a mess hall, an office, a medical hut, a lodge for visitors, and a massive dug out fire pit in centre just begging to be set aflame. The workers – who ever or what ever they were - worked very efficiently to match the experience felt in human camps.

"This is sick!" Jake said in awe, scanning every inch of the valley with his dragon sight and finding that every single detail was perfect. "Where will me and the other world dragons sleep?"

"You will be bunking with your fellow students. We do not wish to send a message of superiority to the new students although you will be governing some basic training exercises." Andam replied, walking towards the office.

"That means you are a glorified Camp Councillor." Haley translated smugly, her pink suitcase rolling behind her.

Jake stuck his forked tongue out at her, suddenly becoming aware of the other families that had joined them and sucked it back in. He took a good look at them and became aware that some (mainly the younger looking ones) had half-morphed draconian features. They were most likely other students that were picked up in New York. A wild thought entered his mind, if this small group was what New York had produced, what about the other major cities and all the countries of the world. Surely their numbers would be enormous by the end of next week.

A whirling sound in the distance caught their attention. Above the tree tops in all directions, more and more planes neared the island.

"Ah! Looks like the rest of the students have arrived." Andam exclaimed, taking a quick count of all the aircrafts. "Others will be arriving by sea shortly, we must go greet them immediately. Mister Jake Long you will choose out cabins for yourself and the rest of your fellow New Yorkers while you have first dibs."

Jake and the other children ran wildly past the adults, their arms flailing in the breeze. Their families sighing expectedly as they ran into their own individual cabin.

**/X\**

Jake felt odd.

Well odd wasn't really the correct term for how he felt but it was a start. After a quick count of how many cabins there were with the estimated number of students, he decided that he would separate the students based on age. Gender would be to their own preferences.

He was silent as he picked a bunk bed – the bottom bunk of one that was directly beneath a window – and set down his luggage into one of the provided trunks. He felt displaced as he changed out of his familiar red jacket and into nondescript running clothes. As the trunk close with a thump, Jake realised what the feeling was.

It was pure adrenaline.

It took him a while to register but every nerve of his body was fired up in way he couldn't describe. Some told him to dragon-up and fly away from the island all together, some told him to get out there and teach the hell of the new students, and the remnants told him to stay right there in the cabin as long as he could.

"Jake?"

He turned sharply, almost sheathing his claws out of fright. His flash of fury ended the moment he saw that the speaker was Haley.

The younger dragon picked up on his unease and made no comment on it. "The Councillors say that pretty much everybody is here. You have to come out and say hi at least."

With a deep sigh, Jake walked out of the cabin, ruffling his sister's hair as he did so, and took his first big look at his students.

It was not a pretty sight.

Fire erupted randomly in all directions. Teenagers were hitting each other in displays of strength, pre-teens chased the smaller children mercilessly, everyone was somewhere half between dragon and human giving their actions a rare grotesque feature to them. Looking around frantically he saw what were likely every single one of the student's parents and relatives sitting on the expansive patio of the lodge. The Council sat by alongside Jake's Grandfather, all waiting for him to make the first move.

Jake felt nauseous as he stepped onto the grass, barely dodging a fiery blast to his head. His biggest thought was _"How am I suppose to even get their attention?"_

"**OI!** QUITE YOU SCALY MONGRELS! Show some decorum!" The thick Aussie accent pierced the air.

Jake's eyes were drawn to the agile form descending from a far away watch tower. An unusual yellow body marked with orange rings and antlers, flew swiftly with wings that were made of a material so thin that it appeared to be fur.

Fred Nerk landed in all of his draconian glory beside Jake, giving an amused smirk to the American's starry eyed look. Jake was shocked at how much the Australian had grown since they last met. His body size was greater, making him a head taller than Jake and the strange ridges on his back and haunches were larger, giving him an almost leafy appearance.

Fred's outburst had quelled the crowds rabble and alerted the presence of the other world dragons to their side.

"They're all yours Jake-a-roo." Fred whispered, pushing him forward.

Jake stifled the want to turn around and push him back, but he needed to play nice for now. Turning to the students he began simply.

"Hi. My name is Jake Long and I'm the dragon protector or rather "World Dragon" of America. I'm glad that all of you could join us on Wyrmfyre Island."

The students were unimpressed but at least they felt no need to return to their original shenanigans. Jake's eyes flickered to the lodge, the Council and every other adult watching him intensely. Swallowing a lump in his throat he continued.

"The big, unavoidable reason why y'all are here is simple. You're all big scaly dragons."

"We coulda told ya that!" an angry Boston accent yelled out, shaking some of the more volatile students from their peace.

"Alright! Just stating the obvious here." Jake quickly regained control, trying not to cause another miniature riot. "Now the World Dragon Council, that means those nice people in wizard robes over there, hadn't expected there be so many of you. So with so many students and very few teachers they thought the best course of action was this camp."

"How come we're hearing this from you and not them?" An older female voice asked, believing that the Council were being "hands-off" about the situation. "How do we know your a dragon and not some... pixie?"

The American was bombarded with heated questions and remarks, some confused and others plain rude. Rubbing the ridge of his nose, he decided to keep a cool head. "'Cus pixies be _this_ big and have limited shapeshifting abilities. Plus this."

His eyes flashed gold as heatless flames engulfed his body. Clothes dissolving into hammer-space as scale erupted from skin and tooth replaced with fang. A bright crimson oh so similar to fresh blood or a cut ruby covered his body save for his gold underbelly and his black and green ridges. When he finished his transformation (which for many seemed to last hours), he watched how the students looked at him in awe. He took a glance over to Fred Nerk, who seemed equally impressed with his display. Jake would boast that he did in fact develop nicely, in both human and dragon form.

"Y'all look like you've seen a ghost. Perhaps I did it wrong?"

Well that certainly got their attention because for the next hour or so Jake had them eating right out of his hand. He decided with this new found complacence he would focus on the most pressing issue: transformations. Pretty much every dragon who recently gained their powers were stuck halfway and those who were born into well known dragon families had never put themselves under such duress.

"It ain't just about _being_ a dragon. It's about separating the human from the dragon. You walk around Manhattan or the Troll market with a spiked tail coming out your fleshy butt and you're going to attract some unwanted attention. There is a point when you pretty much merge both but I wouldn't recommend it. Stylish? Yes, but a chore to change out of."

"What happens to our clothes?" a young girl piped up, clutching her pink sundress protectively.

This stopped the American in his tracks. He honestly didn't know. Grampa once said something about the clothes merging with the body but didn't expand on it. Jake hummed thoughtfully and explained the best he could. "If you turned into a dragon and you were still wearing reeboks and jeans, you'd look ridiculous. When you transform, your clothes sorta disappear before you turn back again. Like so."

He transformed back into his human form, showcasing how his clothes stayed on. The students gave "Ahh!"s of relief and some groaned disappointedly.

"Now the first step of going dragon is in believing it." The students laughed disbelievingly, thinking that faith, trust and pixie weren't good enough reasons. "Hey now! Gospel truth here! If y'all don't think you're a dragon, then our body won't be a dragon, no matter how many accidental transformations you get. You catch my drift?"

They all murmured in agreement. The Council looked on approvingly, all chatting amongst themselves how the young World Dragon was so far doing a surprisingly good job at teaching the recruits.

"Lao Shi." Andam caught Grampa's attention. "Your apprentice is doing a fine job keeping his students in line."

Lao Shi sipped his tea with an amused look on his face. "I'll believe it when it is done. I shall praise him openly if nothing catches fire by today's end."

Jake continued to coach the students into fully transforming, but was having trouble with some particular cases. "You have to feel every single nerve in your body change. The first couple of times will take a lot out of you so go at your own pace.

He strode over to an older student who at first looked like he was getting the hang of it, if not for the fact that he was only able to transform his head. His solid black sharp scales matched his natural skin tone and the white spines near the top showed his previous hair colour. The sheer size of his head was uncomfortably weighing down his human body, suggesting that his overall form would be massive. No wonder the poor guy was having trouble.

"You okay up there dude?" He asked, trying to convey as much casual authority as possible. "You look like you're a bit stuck."

He was surprised when a deep Russian voice came from the head. "I believe that I **am** stuck. Perhaps I focus too much on my brain?" the black dragon rumbled, his tone and volume giving him a strange fairy-tale quality seen rarely in real dragons.

Jake coughed, briefly mesmerised by the voice, and suggested. "You know how a caterpillar turns into a cocoon, then into a butterfly? Try focusing on your wings, even if you don't have 'em it'll speed up the process a bit."

The Russian nodded, becoming impossibly still and quite. After two minutes Jake was about to suggest a new tactic when an almighty eruption signalled that the older dragon's had reached an epiphany. His transformation took half a minute before his body caught up to his head. There right in front of Jake was a eight-foot tall, dark Adonis among dragons.

"I think I did well. Don't you?" The Russian asked, prodding his newly formed wings and muscles curiously.

"Well... uh. You did pretty damn good for a first try." Jake stopped himself from staring and asked a more personal question. "What's your name anyway big guy?"

"Ivan Bogomolov." The newly dubbed Ivan answered, his gaze transfixed on his flustered (currently) human mentor. "And I am afraid to say that before last Sunday I thought dragons were pure myth."

"How come?"

"Because I grew up in a small village outside Irkutsk where I had no time for such things. Wood must be chopped and wheat must be harvested. My father's main concern with my... condition was that I wasn't eligible for marriage, not that I was a target for the Huntsclan."

Jake blinked in recognition. The Huntsclan had all but disbanded in the last few years, if through their members leaving or their leader weakening. He thought of Rose and hoped that she too escaped such a life. "You've run into Huntsclan before?"

"Indeed. I believe that they wanted me because they knew that I held potential for _**this**_." He gestured to himself, moving his massive arms like they were cudgels.

The American nodded and realised that practically all the students had fully completed their transformations, many helped by the other World Dragons on hand.

Embarrassed that he'd become so sidetracked by the one student, Jake returned to his post with Fred Nerk, yelling a few final words to Ivan. "I got to go big guy. See you around camp!"

The Russian waved back, happy to have found someone accepting of what he was. He was initially discouraged by his mother on going to Wyrmfyre Island under the fear that he would be mocked as he was in his village. Luckily that was far from the truth.

Fred shot a venomous glare to Ivan. Not one of anger, but of jealousy. The Russian gave an equally challenging look, daring the Australian to face him directly. The two gave a silent promise of confrontation during after hours, a subtle action shared by opposing individuals – human and dragonkind – since the dawn of time.

By the end of the unexpectedly fast three hours, every student from eleven year old wyverns to twenty year old lindworms, were fully transformed and moving around like newborn fawns. The variation in sizes, colours, shapes, and races made a very interesting sight. The largest of all of them, Law Stevens (the first Irish dragon in centuries) towered over everyone as a sky blue, 20ft long serpent with eight eyes, no mouth or nose, but had six measly fairy-like wings. On the other end of the scale, Kiyoko Wakahisa (who despite their Japanese origins came from Nebraska) stood at 4ft long as a purple Asiatic dragon but with a Western wingspan of 8ft, giving them the appearance of a prehistoric reptile.

Jake and all the other World Dragons congratulated each other on a job well done. The Council even approached and shook their hands for not setting anything on fire.

"I have noticed a problem." The Indian Dragon – Esha Prasad - mentioned suddenly.

"Oh?" Kulde asked, currently shaking the Scottish Dragon's hands. "What ever could that be?"

"They don't know how to turn back."

The World Dragons let out a collective groan. Looks like they'd be here a long time.

**/X\**

After half an hour of trying to coach the recruits back into their human forms, they called for a recess. They had been extremely difficult, either that the process of turning from dragon to human took more energy out of them or that they simply wanted to stay as dragons. Jake had given up and told his group to get used to walking around before they transformed back, hoping that the exercise would tire them out.

He walked up to the lodge patio, ignoring how people stared at his dragon form, and slumped over in the spare seat next to his Grandfather. Lao Shi seemed to pay his grandson no attention and was busy boiling a pot of tea in a small table-top tetsubin. The American watched as his group instantly began wrestling each other and sending threatening blasts of fire in all directions, before their scuffles made them fall into the shallow bank of the lake.

"They'll be the death of me, I just know it." Jake slapped a hand over his maw in shock. Had he truly uttered the same words Grampa often used during his own training. "Oh great I'm turning into you."

Suddenly Grampa ruffled his head spines in a rare act of affection and poured him his own cup of tea. "Please don't. I'm a grouchy old man and you're not even twenty yet. Be a fool for a while longer."

"Thanks Gramps." He took the cup of tea, grateful for some type of relaxant. Unlike his grandfather, Jake preferred to take his tea straight with no sugar or milk, meaning that his tastes were abnormally bitter. This helped when Haley once tried to steal a sip from his cup, only to learn to her horror that it had been Kuding tea.

"I remember when I first transformed." Grampa stated, looking out at the relaxing recruits with nostalgia. "My parents were so proud of me. Unfortunately I had trouble turning back and I had to miss that year's Qingming Festival. I was so upset that I accidentally set all of the offerings on fire."

They both laughed openly, both recalling how a similar event occurred during Jake's first year as a dragon. They became quite for a while, preferring to listen to the banter of the many families and friends of the new students. Some expressing fear, some expressing delight, some wondering if they needed to fireproof their homes. They even overheard two men argue if their sons could still try out for football in future.

As the day edged into the afternoon, the families located their children and embraced them like there was no tomorrow. Going by the low voices and the distant sounds of airplanes, Jake figured that it was almost time for the parents and other family members to leave the island. The students were allowed to visit or be visited every two weeks, but even that seemed a very long time.

"You look after your sister while we're gone, alright Jake?" Susan held onto her son, afraid to let him go.

"And Haley if you or your brother get lip from people bigger than you, give 'em the ol' what for!" Jonathan coached his daughter, giving her a kiss on the top of her head.

They were about to pull away when Lao Shi addressed his two grandchildren. "Young dragons. I am proud to have seen you grow over the past four years but I'm afraid that your training will be rather split from here on out. All of the masters will return to coach their charges every week or so but you yourselves must act as guide for your fellow students. I'm... " He paused, whatever he was going to say was caught in his throat. Taking a large drink of tea he finished with a wavering voice. "I'm so proud of you both."

The whole family embraced each other, allowing their emotions to run freely.

/X\

Almost all of the families had left the camp site, Jake and Haley's included, but some still lingered as long as they could to their children. One particular group was delaying their travelling party. It was made up of four people, two men and two women, of varying races surrounding the one student. The student was very rotund and his dragon form showcased it. His scales were a deep earthy red and brown with strange blue and yellow markings – similar to those found in Aztec art – covering his body. Two large feathery wings splayed out his back like a robe.

"_Mijo_ you write to us every week, you hear me?" The Mexican woman fretted over her son, cleaning his scaly face with a cloth and straightening his back as the smaller of the men gave him his luggage.

"Mama the camp allows for visitation every other week! There is no need for letters." The husky young man replied, gaining a sharp glare from his mother and the other, slightly younger, woman.

"You better write to your Mamas son or they'll come looking for you!" The smaller man laughed, clapping him on the back proudly.

"We'll be sure to visit every to weeks. Now Amaia if you can let go of our son." The taller man said, placing a comforting hand on the Mexican woman's arm.

Reluctantly the woman ceased her grip on the young man and clinged emotionally to the two men as the other woman gave him a quick peck on the forehead. She whispered something into their son's ear before rejoining her group. They waved frantically back at each other even as the young man's family sunk into the woodland path and finally ending as they went out of sight.

The boy sighed loudly before tilting his head back and letting out a yell of happiness, falling onto the grass and rolling to his heart's content before colliding with a pair of clawed feet. He looked up and saw a most lovely sight.

"Hi, I'm Jake Long. I guess you're happy to be by yourself." The American greeted, giving a small laugh at the other dragon's joy.

"Oh!" The young man felt that he was making a fool of himself in front of such a vision and quickly brought himself to his feet. "I am Gabriel Domingo and those four people were my parents."

Jake raised his brow in astonishment. "Four parents? Dang! I guess you don't get any peace at home do you?"

"I know, I know. You see two of the couples are married but they've always been in love with each other. So to avoid unnecessary conflict they decided to all live under the same roof. This is only a problem when I am their only child."

"Ouch!" Jake hissed sympathetically. "I thought I had it bad. You the only dragon too?"

"Sadly yes." Gabriel confirmed, stretching his heavy wings. "When I changed my mama thought I had become possessed and took me to a preacher."

"Did the preacher say anything?"

"When I was able to say the Lord's prayer without bursting into flames, he figured that it was a blessing and that I may be an angel. I think I like that theory." He smiled mischievously, moving closer to the smaller dragon, his tone becoming flirtatious. "And from what I've seen I must agree with him."

"**Oi!** Jake!" Fred's voice carried over the crowds of lazing teens and reached them. "The Councillors say we need to start turning em' back!"

"Okay! Later Gabe!" He flew towards his group of students, leaving the Mexican by himself.

Gabriel was about to curse his rotten luck when the yellow body of Fred Nerk landed right in front of him, shortly followed by the much larger form of Ivan Bogomolov.

"What's the big idea fatso?" Fred poked the shorter dragon's stomach painfully, his eyes filled with jealousy. "Trying to neck the American Dragon is you? That's not acceptable behaviour mate."

"I hadn't a clue that it was illegal to flirt. I see no problem with it." Gabriel led him on, enjoying how flustered the Australian got.

"Pig's arse!" He exclaimed, making the two other dragons jump away. "It's certainly a problem."

"Is it because it is a rule, or is it because his attention is not solely on you?" Ivan asked, stunning Fred for a few seconds. "Are you jealous that he may not favour you over either of us? I must admit I do find him very alluring... "

"Mind your own bizzo _**Vlad**_. Me and Jake go back a long time-"

"And yet you have yet to make a single move."

Fred growled angrily at the Russian, standing tall with his teeth bared. His larger opponent responded by crouching down to his level and rumbling a dangerously low sound from his stomach. Before the two alpha males could engage in a fistfight, an idea came to the Mexican dragon.

"How about a wager?" This caught the other two's attention and they fixed their gaze upon him. "Who ever wins the boy's heart by the end of the summer, shall keep it?"

"Win his... heart?" Fred rolled the thought around his head, both liking and hating it.

Ivan hummed thoughtfully, talking to himself. "In my village you'd break your bones if it made your love look your way."

"Well then... do we have a deal?" Gabriel held out his scaly hand and was surprised to find two others clasping it in agreement. "Alright! When we part ou hands, our quest begins. On the count of tres."

"One." "Uno." "Один ."

The stared at each other, no of them trusting the others to follow through.

"Two." "Dos." "Два."

Their hands are beginning to sweat, the scales rubbing uncomfortably together. The three dragons' eyes are now transfixed on their joined palms.

"Three!" "Tres!" "Три!"

Fred grits in teeth, daring his rivals continue. Ivan raises his brow in an unimpressed fashion and focuses on his words. Gabriel grins with mischief in his red eyes, looking forward to what might happen over this fateful summer.

"GO!"

And thus Jake Long the American Dragon, unbeknownst to himself, gained three very determined suitors.

**-Alright! Second chapter. Introducing Jake's future suitors. I am tempted to make this a dating sim kind of thing.**


	3. The One Sided Dodecahedron

"Chapter 3 : The One-Sided Dodecahedron"

Jake Long awoke that night in a foreign place.

Bolting from unconsciousness as if catapulted from a horrific dream, he was unable to force his laboured breathing to calm to a reasonable pace. Declaring the act useless, he wrestled his stubborn lids open. Darting his eyes all around the room, he became aware that he was among one of many in this strange place. Rows of wooden confinements reached the slanted ceiling, trapping their prisoners inside. Shadows danced around the room and flashed across his vision like enchanted knives, the only form of light coming from a hybrid of digital watches and pinpricks of moonlight. He could hear rumbles and shuffling, sharp pained whistles, and a series of violent growls nipped at the back of his neck.

"Ten towels? That's impossible!" an annoyed voice barked at the air.

Fred Nerk's distinctive snoring emanating from above coupled with Wren Hickory's (one of the two Irish dragons) loud sleep talking in the next bunk, reassured him that he was just simply imagining things.

Jake allowed his eyelids to snap shut again. First night away from home and he just had to have a nightmare. Jake groaned quietly, he had been getting these messed up bouts of sleep for years, the first happening shortly after an unremarkable run-in with a Mara. He'd wake up completely terrified with only his eyes responding to stimuli and with a invisible chokehold on his lungs. In addition to the physical effects he would get messed up visions of _things_ – whether humanoid, cat-like, or small bean bag shaped blobs - moving around the room. His grandfather chalked it down to either work-related stress or a disgruntled creature placing a cruel hex on him. Certain potions and elixirs did help but they only dampened the worst visions.

Not wanting to stay in such a position he started gradually making his way off the bed. His neck stayed in it's place, completely stiff from it's position on the pillow. Dragging his barely responsive body across the silent room, he made a quick retreat to outside the cabin (which he could recall being labelled Cabin 1) and stepped down onto the rough grassy ground.

The camp had long since fallen asleep. It had taken longer than expected to change them back into human form but with careful persuasion and the threat of sleeping outside they had succeeded.

Jake allowed his bare feet to drag themselves along the lake's edge, wet clay from the slope of the bank encasing the bottom half of his legs.

The camp-grounds were eerily silent. Considering they held what was likely more than a hundred students alone, Jake found it strange that out of all those hundred, he was the only one awake. Or if there were more, they had eluded him. A quick use of Ear and Eye of the Dragon proved him wrong, he was completely and utterly alone out by the lake. The crescent moon illuminated the the surface of the water as if beckoning the American to go beneath it's inky shield.

Jake made another quick scan of the lake bank and in finding no potential intruders or spectators, he gave into temptation and shed his clothes as if they were a layer of dead skin. Quickly submerging himself in the impossibly cold waters. With his skin trembling and his muscles contracting painfully, Jake forced his body to transform.

With his red scaled body he continued to swim and float along the water, having more fun then he expected. Perhaps it was the rare solitude of being out at this time, perhaps it was a strange oneness with the nature surrounding him, or more likely it was the simple thrill of skinny dipping with the danger of being caught. No matter the reason, Jake stayed out by the lake until the pink sky signalled the coming dawn. Quickly retrieving his now muddy bed clothes he slipped into his bunk just as the earliest of risers yawned themselves awake.

**/X\**

As the American dragon smiled beneath his cover, from above him blushed Fred Nerk. The Australian had caught his bunkmate leaving after the Irish dragon's sleep shouting in the next bed awoke him.

He had watched from the small window behind his head onto the lake where the American had played freely for hours. It was in that moment that Fred was reminded exactly why he was vying for the other man's heart.

Fred's situation started very similar to Jake's. His thirteenth birthday passed and suddenly he was growing scales instead of chest hair. Being the first recorded dragon born in Australia (at least not since the colonists came) he was quickly swooped up by the Council and brought in for training. The distinct difference between him and Jake was that while the American at least had the aid of his grandfather to guide him, Fred had no one.

The Council did well to find the yellow dragon a master, but his massive ego coupled with his relatively unknown dragon type and blood history, proved him to be a very difficult although powerful student. Fred oft wondered what would have happened if he had fled from such responsibility, after all there was no _**real**_ reason to protect his territory, if Australia had functioned just fine before without a protector it could do so now.

When he met the Yank on the Isle of Draco, his first impression wasn't favourable. The kid was too proud, too peacock-like, too much like the Aussie himself when he started out. Admittedly Fred started out disliking the American Dragon, especially as their prank war escalated over the few days they were together. But when Fred was saved from being damn near eviscerated by a gargantuan evil dragon, he had to bite his tongue. He saw how Jake normally brash attitude broke down in front of the Council, revealing a very noble and heroic young man who would better risk being human then losing a fellow dragon. With the promise of a rematch next year and a pair of confetti rockets shoved into the other's back pocket, Fred eagerly waited to meet the American again.

Something changed in Fred after that day. He poured himself into his training, taking every beating and every failure with a gritted smile. No matter how many masters shoved their own ideology into his head and forced him to learn another form of fighting, he didn't budge. Very few masters clicked with him as the Council had never seen his particular dragon type before (expected as he was in fact the only Australian Dragon at the time) and were determined to see what made him tick.

Due to complications of time and training, his and Jake's meetings shortened with each passing year. It wasn't due to disinterest, far from it in fact, but when the both of them were being dragged in two directions to either learn a new fighting style or to pummel a huntsman into a bloody pulp, it caused a small rift between them. But the way Jake carried himself and treated his responsibilities stuck with him ever since.

There were times when Fred would curse and shout to the heavens _**why him**_? Why did he: a young boy found abandoned in a cardboard box outside Perth, have to protect and serve people who will never know his existence? He then thinks of that time on Draco Isle. And of the boy that made him think what it was to be a protector.

The Australian's reminiscing was cut short when Morag McCloud – the Scottish Dragon – shook his shoulder hard and waved his hand in front of his face.

"Hey man, the rest of us of queuing up outside. Don't want to be late for your first day of camp do yeh?" The thick brogue rumbled, playfully dragging him off the top bunk.

"No I have been paralysed. Go on without me." Nerk without skipping a beat went limp and jokingly feigned helplessness.

"Maybe you'd have more energy if you weren't up all night ogling Mr America." Morag grinned knowingly as the Australian dragon took upon a red complexion and silently changed into his day clothes.

**/X\**

The sun shone brightly above the camp-grounds, illuminating every crack and crevice with it's light. This would have been perfect if it had not brought it's stifling heat with it. Jake wiped his brow, tiny droplets of perspiration clinging to his red hot scales. Being a fire-aligned dragon he could handle heat much better than those specialising in ice or thunder, but this was cancelled out by a lifetime living under New York's cloudy sky.

The courtyard of the camp had been cleared that morning to act as an organised training ground of sorts. Each World Dragon stood in front of twenty or so students, all in their full dragon bodies and looking more like grizzled veterans of an Unseelie War than a group of equally confused teenagers.

Jake turned to his own group, his presence making it clear that he was in charge. The 20 recruits looked up at him in awe, their underdeveloped wings and tails subconsciously shaking with excitement. Jake smiled wide and began his teaching.

"All right, can y'all tell me: what is the most important thing you need to know about being a dragon?"

"Building a hoard!"

"Stealing princesses!"

"Setting crap on fire."

Jake smacked himself in the face. Being one of few with a younger sibling, it was deemed fair by the other World Dragons that Jake was given one of the younger classes. Although the original age limit for the camp had been set at 12 to 18, it was quickly discovered that the new generation had produced some early and late bloomers. The oldest student happened to be 23 year-old Morgan Morningstar and the youngest 8½ year-old Skadi Altgeirson.

Jake was about to reply with a scathing remark, reminding himself that he was dealing with actual kids, not his little sister. Taking a deep breath he explained calmly. "No. The stories of gold, princesses, and mindless destruction are fairytales to us too. In the magical world, dragons are renowned for wisdom, strength, and judgement. A reputation that takes a bit more than lucky genes and a year of foreign politics class to build."

He continued to yammer on and on about examples of great – preferably non-violent – dragons and tactics that his students could emulate. In his excitement he was blind to the fact that he had essentially become his grandfather, so interested in passing on knowledge that he oft didn't notice that his wards hadn't absorbed a single word.

After five minutes, each of his students were sitting cross-legged on the ground, only marginally interested in what their mentor had to say. Their attention switched wildly between his tale about a group of wrath demons he encountered in Staten Island and to the groups of older dragons attempting to hit their teacher with a rare martial art move.

And in his preoccupied state, Jake had failed to see a certain Russian dragon looking his way.

Ivan had long since drowned out the voice of his instructor – a beefy fellow of similar origins and grey-white scales by the name of Yasha Polzin – and had turned his attentions to a more interesting sight. He had no words to describe how he thought of the American Dragon.

When Ivan had discovered what he was, he had expected nothing less than to be strapped to a burning stake in the village centre or be locked in a metal cell in some hidden research facility, after all that's what happened to monsters right? Although the thought of stealing a wealthy diplomat's daughter and hiding in an ice castle with a mountain of jewels _did_ sound tempting.

When the council came to him under the guises of holy men and offered him their protection, he was surprised to find his salvation was a tropical island governed by "monsters" such as himself, and that his training ground would be a holiday in a hidden forest rather than the military barracks that were oh so close to his home.

When he first saw the American, he was unimpressed by the younger man's presence in general, he stood tall but reeked of inexperience. As the Russian had grown up with a series of ex-cons and ghastly crones for teachers, his first impression of the cocky greenhorn was neutral at best and disrespectful at worst.

Ivan's attention was only caught when the younger man transformed into a dragon with the same calm as if he was taking off his coat.

There was a... gentleness to this bestial mentor, a softened hand or lowered tone. Far from what the Russian expected. Dragons are giant, they are powerful, they are dangerous, and they are most importantly feared. Yet, the American approached him as of he was a being of equal strength or ability and calmly coached him into transforming into what he stands today. The American left an imprinting on the much larger dragon's mind that deepened as he slept. At first Ivan felt that something was emphatically wrong with him, he was raised to abhor such feelings for other men less he endure a lash from the town's preacher. As the day went on the strange burning in his chest got higher and higher until it threatened to leak from his mouth in the form of smoke (_"Now a likely fear"_ he thought).

That bet he had made with the two other males seemed to be folly at first, but now as Ivan cannot draw his mind away from the red and gold prince of dragons, he must do his earnest to win it.

A swift punch to his gut knocked him on his rear.

"Number one rule of combat! Pay attention." Yasha rubbed his fists causally, the others in his class looking on with awe.

Ivan stared at the cloudless sky, shocked silent by the painless but sudden blow to his abdomen. The older Russian leaned down and hoisted him back onto unsteady clawed feet.

"Comrade, you look like your world fell apart. What ever could be the matter?" The instructor asked, gaining his answer when his student's eyes fixated back onto the American Dragon. "Oh. That."

Ivan swallowed whatever words were meant to come up and instead let out a long roar-like sigh. Jake was now beginning to actually show moves to his group, all of whom scrambled to rise from their comfortable seats on the grass.

Yasha patted a broad shoulder and winced sympathetically. "You're not the only one."

The black dragon quickly turned his sights onto the other male, a disbelieving wrinkle of the brow decorating his face. "You as well?"

The older Russian laughed heartily. Gesturing to the other students to practice among themselves as he spoke to Ivan in a hushed tone.

"My affections are for my samodiva wife back home. Jake Long is a target for many, _many_ creatures." Yasha began, his eyes flickering to the sun when he mentioned his wife. "He is immensely strong, confident, noble is his own... well-aware way, and he changed the entire magical world only to go back to schooling the next day. That type of character is very desirable in a mate."

Ivan raised an eyebrow, his train of thought stopping at the last word. "Mate? Surely we do not take spouses as if we were animals."

"Only if we want to, my boy. Keep in mind that dragons existed long before the ideals of marriage. Such relationships between men and men are only a problem when the need for children arises and even then our bodies know how to work around _**that**_." He chuckled once more, looking at his apprentice and being reminded of how he felt when he met his little lady.

"You're a good boy, but you have to focus on your training as well. I doubt he'd be impressed if you set your hair on fire now would he?" Yasha positioned himself in front of Ivan in an aggressive stance. "On the count of three I want you to counter my attacks. I'll go easy on you at first but remember this is camp not gym class."

Ivan shrugged and took upon a more relaxed stance, pushing any invasive thoughts about a certain red male out of his head.

**/X\**

"MEDIC!"

The classes stopped abruptly, craning their heads to where ever the voice had erupted from.

Yasha Polzin was being rolled onto a stretcher by two elfin orderlies, complaining loudly that his cracked ribs and broken arm did not make him a fragile doll.

Jake flew over immediately, giving a rushed apology to his wards and going to the Russian World Dragon's side. "What haps' Yasha?"

"That Bogomolov. Did standard counter-attack lesson and he almost broke me in half." The instructor winced as the orderlies lifted him off the ground.

Jake shot Ivan a deadly glare, trying to convey as much shame as possible into the look. Going on ahead to the medic hut, he kept at close eye on the stunned recruits congregating around the younger Russian and kept the door of the hut slightly opened after Yasha was brought inside.

When Jake turned around he was shocked to be met with a familiar face.

"Sup' Jakie? Don't tell me this is your doing." Trixie beamed, wearing a uniform that identified her in the magical world as a physician.

"Trix!" He exclaimed going in for a hug before remembering his current form. Shifting down into his human body, they shared a quick embrace. "What are you doing here?"

"Summer job, baby! College said if I took an intern position I'd get extra credits. Plus I need to keep an eye out for you." She laid Yasha flat on the examination bed and started assessing the injuries. Turning to the World Dragon she asked in her most professional tone. "Now can you tell me what caused this?"

"That Ivan Bogomolov, he's stronger than any drake I've ever met." He smiled through the pain of his arm being set right. Dragons of course had much higher heal time than most creatures but it'll still be mighty painful to move that arm for the next few days. "Even with his size, it was very surprising."

"Guy doesn't seem to know his own strength." Jake muttered darkly, watching the class from the doorway. "I'd hate to think of what would happen if he went too far..."

Yasha used his free tail to pat the American on the shoulder, grinning wildly he assured him. "Don't need to think so morbidly, friend. Boy just needs a push in the right direction. It's not like he'll become a new Dark Dragon if we don't bound and chain him."

"I know, I know." Jake replied, holding up hid hands defensively. "It's just that there's something... off about him. Like he's trying to read my mind of something.." He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "I know that sounds kinda stupid..."

"May be you could teach him outside the class times." Trixie offered, wrapping bright red plaster around the Russian's arm. "Even on the off-chance he wants to throw down, you're better off knowing what he can do first hand."

Jake tumbled this around his head a few times before deciding "Alright! I'll give him a personal lesson from the Am-drag about self-control. Guy could be a real good protector some day. I gotta get back to my own class. Later Trix!" He rushed out of the medical hut excitedly, transforming as he slammed the wooden door behind him, leaving the two figures by themselves.

Yasha broke the silence first. "That poor Long boy is in for a mad few weeks."

"I ain't worried. Jake's taken on things _far_ bigger than tall, dark, and deadly dragons."

"That is not what a mean..." 

Trixie raised her brow suspiciously, holding her cutting scissors still against the roll of bandage, ready to turn it into a weapon if need be. "You know something I don't?" Her gaze turned threatening, boring into the much larger eyes of the World Dragon. "Cus if I learn that there's a big plan ready to knock him off, then we gonna have a problem."

Yasha waved his unbroken hand rapidly, explaining in a feared tone the events that were currently unfurling around camp. "In short Mister Long has many suitors wanting his hand. Mister Bogomolov is one of those few willing to go after it." 

The human girl hummed thoughtfully to herself, finishing up on the drake's bashed-up torso with a natural grace. "So Jakie's got a man or two after him in the _romantic_ way. That's... so funny!" She tittered in a bird-like voice, holding her sides tightly. "I knew the boy could be a bit blind but this is a whole new level of oblivion."

"You now see why I approve of him coaching Ivan, yes?" Yasha smirked, his trickster nature shining through. "I have bet with Esha and Morag. Who ever gets his heart first wins."

"That's a bit dishonest don't you think?" She replied, her look of mock judgement peeling away as she offered ten American dollars to her patient. "Put me under tall, dark, and handsome. That Australian guy is a'ight but not _bang_, you know what I'm saying?"

"That's good! That makes this the fifth one in that outcome." He took the money happily, trying to remember the exchange rate between dollars and roubles.

**/X\**

The mess hall was packed.

No that would be an understatement. It was _overflowing_.

"Is it true you took a Nix to your school dance?" A pretty French girl asked, flirtatiously twirling her long dark locks.

"Yeah girl! I don't discriminate. Demon ladies need a bit of love too!" Jake not-so modestly admitted, soaking up the attention of the recruits clinging onto his every word.

"And you're first real girlfriend was a hunter?" A weedy Polish boy asked shyly, his pale face aflame with blush.

"I didn't really know she was a hunter at first. Hell I was her target before I was her friend. I wonder how she's doing now..." He trailed off, not even paying attention to the tugs and pulls on his shirt dragging him closer to every other recruit. The last he had heard from Rose was a few months ago in a letter. She had fallen out with the Huntsclan after she had discovered her true origins. The Huntsman's failing health gave her an opportunity to flee and she ultimately decided to seek out her living family. He hoped that she was happy where ever she was.

"Have you ever had anyone since?" Another girl to his right asked, her turquoise nails digging painfully into his arm. She leaned forward and whispered something seductively into his ear. "Cus I'd like to add to that number."

Jake's face flared red. He at first assumed that it was mere hero-worship that was drawing the students in, but after the first six times an attractive female brushed her body against his arm or a male's hand hovered over his shoulder, he had to get a bit concerned.

"Well um... Thanks for the offer but I..." He stuttered, trying to get off his seat as his admirers' grips grew tighter. "I'm... not searching at the moment."

"Aww! C'mon! You can't be still mooning over her!" A blonde with elfin features whined, her voice becoming more and more shrill with each vowel. "Surely a nice guy like you is still on market!"

Now with the revelation that their attentions were more than PG, he called out mentally for somebody to help him.

A blast of hot magmatic breath was ultimately needed to scatter the group of admires. Although dragons had a resistance to breath attacks (especially those from other dragons), their very human instincts told them to flee from the incoming ball of fiery death.

Jake stared at the hole in the ground caused by the blast and silently thanked who ever had done it. Following the scorch marks he was met with a familiar rotund body.

"_Lo siento, mi cielo_. Their ruckus was obviously disturbing you." Gabriel Domingo apologized, attempting to bow despite being in his dragon form.

Jake sighed, relived that his groupies were gone.

As the Mexican casually transformed back into his human form, Jake realised that he hadn't seen his human form until this meeting. Thankfully Gabriel was quite pleasing to the eye.

Messy dark brown hair and a pair of large amber eyes atop heavily freckled sun-kissed skin stood where the earthy red drake once stood. His body was still quite large, perhaps even more so than his dragon form, and yet he was just barely taller than Jake himself. This along with his simple red button shirt and work pants gave him a informal appearance that made him seem more suited to being a hobbit or a nisse than a magma-breathing dragon.

"Being a dragon can be truly tiring, but I am happy in both of my skins." He broke the air, the same soft accent coming from his now human lips. "But you give yours little mind right?"

"It took a long time for me to get used to it." Jake nodded. When he had first started his path he was extremely concerned about his draconic appearance, mainly because he was looking at himself through human eyes. Then one day he decided that he was a very handsome drake and that was that. "Heck everything about the magical world took some getting used to."

"I think I understand what you mean. I can't identify half of what is being served here in the mess hall, and even less what our food is made of." He pondered, sitting himself a few inches away so not to disturb his chosen companion. Upon picking up Jake's confused expression h explained. "Before I came here I was taking a college culinary course. I had just completed my first year when my powers showed up. Now with all these strange and wonderful things to work with, I can't wait to get started."

Jake smiled, glad that the Mexican was focusing on a path not just suited to fighting (unlike some choice students he had encountered). "I wouldn't know much about magic cuisine myself."

"How come? From what I've heard you spend many hours a day in the New York troll market alone."

"Lack of opportunity really. My mom never learnt the methods because my family were always so close to the human world. Last time she tried a recipe it took out a whole set of pots and pans with it."

"Sounds dangerous."

"Here's a warning: You have to boil Yaoguai veggies in salted holy water before you even think of letting them into your kitchen. Delicious when fried but attracts gluttony demons." Jake cringed remembering how his father was able to chase them out of the house with a salt shaker (demons no matter what origin truly and utterly despise salt).

"I must try and learn these recipes then. It can't be more scary than my cooking instructor back home." Gabriel beamed, his confidence becoming infectious.

The American dragon smiled back, glad to have a conversation that didn't pry into his love life.

**/X\**

"You sure about this Nerk?" The American asked his fellow teacher, walking deeper into the uncharted area of the woods, Ivan Bogomolov walking leisurely behind them.

"It'll be apples." Fred replied with his arms poised lazily behind his head, his long yellow tail held high as a sign of confidence. "If this bloke can break Yasha in two, I'd like to see what he can do to me. You'll be my lieutenant for when things go balls up."

After overhearing how Jake planned to privately tutor Ivan (learned through gossiping with the pretty Shelia in the med-hut), Fred Nerk not-so privately suggested that they do so away from the camp so that no little ones get caught in the crossfire.

"The Council said anywhere outside the camp could be dangerous. You know what you're doing?" Jake said more sternly, recalling that the Council had warned that the island may hold some wild magic or reclusive creatures.

"No drama Jake-a-roo. I got the camp Wardmaster to fix up the place."

"And who's the Wardmaster?"

"Sup Jake." Another familiar voice greeted them at the entrance to the meadow.

The red dragon's face broke in half with a fanged grin. "Spud! I should have known you'd be here."

"Where ever Trixie goes I follow. Like that time at Disneyland but then I got kicked out of the bathrooms. But I digress." The human male said, his casual nature outshining his very professional teal robes.

"How did this one become a Wardmaster?" Ivan asked, puzzled by how calm the supposed mage was.

"Spudinskis got mad protection and sealing magic in their cells. After the deal with the Pandora's box thingy, the Council thought it'd be a good idea for me to work on it." Large plumes of pink energy spread from his arms and outwards to the edge of the small meadow, forming a thin barrier. "I'm only a novice so this is gonna be a temp job. Fire away bros."

The three drakes lined up to spar. Ivan and Fred stood ten feet away from each other, Jake standing at the side to judge and coach, and Spud sitting on the grass nearby eating trail mix as he prepared to watch the show.

"All right! The rules are simple." The American began, trying to stay as composed as possible. "You throw whatever you got at each other, first one incapacitated loses, eyes and between legs are off limits, and for gods sake don't kill each other."

The two sparing partners stared each other down, both knowing the other male's intentions.

"Ready?"

They nodded.

"GO!"

Fred and Ivan launched themselves at the other. The Australian's speedy body colliding with the Russian's hard abdomen, temporarily stunning both parties.

"Ooo! First hit." Spud cheered from the sidelines, his body tensing as the fighters got back up.

Ivan recovered first and shot a sharp hit with his stony fist into Fred's shoulder. Fred rebounded with wrapping his tail around his opponent's black thigh, tripping him while also being knocked back by the blow.

"Yo! Ivan! Don't just use your fists! You got like two or three new limbs!" Jake hollered, wincing as the recruit continued to use his brawler-type methods.

"You can quit now and I can go easy on ya." the yellow dragon whispered, his words holding a hidden meaning.

The black dragon snarled stubbornly, blocking a hit with his leathery wings. "Like I said. You'd break bones to prove worth to your intended."

"All right then. Let me **help** you." He did an unexpected combo hit to the base of the wing, internally cringing as he heard the deep muscles crack. It wasn't enough to break it but most definitely caused a dislocation of some sort.

Ivan's bright blue eyes went wide, experiencing pain that he'd never felt before. The wings were what he had most trouble adapting to, eventually considering them an extra pair of arms of sort. Now one of his extra arms was in searing pain and was bending at an unnatural angle. Filled with rage he was shocked when from his mouth came a never ending stream of cold and frost, a layer of icy particles clinging to his rival's yellow scales.

Fred stared shocked as the ice breath went on and on, eventually covering him head to tail in a frosty shield. His muscles began to ache and twitch before giving up entirely.

"Nerk! You're out!" Jake called out, counting down the three seconds with his fingers. "Looks like Ivan's won the first round."

The Australian looked hazily at the wispy afternoon sky, not even scared to see his opponent walk over and bend to speak to him.

"I am sorry that I broke you friend. I didn't mean it in the slightest." A rare glimpse of a smile tugged at the Russian's lips, garnering a reaction from the downed World dragon.

"Streuth! I didn't know you had a sense of humour. Now could'ya help me up?" Surprisingly he was helped on to unsteady feet, the Russian hissing as pain shot up his shoulder and back. "And uh sorry for breaking your bones for ya mate."

The taller drake blinked, trying to process the last word. He shook his head when he realised that it meant something other than what he had learned earlier that day. "No problems... mate. I have had worse. You on the other hand I am very worried for, I didn't know I could do that."

"So your a frost dragon no worries! I ain't going down just cause I... I... I! ACHOO!" He sneezed loudly, the frost on his scales was melting and was also unfortunately lowering his body temperature with every passing second.

Jake flew over the moment he heard the sneeze, steady Nerk's body as he started feeling dizzy. "We gotta get you two back to base camp and let Trixie check you out." He turned to his human friend sharply and asked. "Yo Spud! Can you keep the wards going around us as we're going back to camp? I don't wanna risk getting jumped at this hour."

"Sure thing bro, but I ain't getting dragon boogers on me." The wardmaster agreed, redirecting the magic to envelop the group.

**/X\**

"Hypothermia and a dislocated wing. What were you boys doing out there?" Trixie reprimanded, sitting with the boys in the deserted mess hall.

Nerk was bound in a cocoon of blankets and jackets, his human form almost invisible under the pile. Ivan's wing jutted out of his fleshy back, unable to turn it back due to it's damaged nature. He sat amongst them in his human form, wearing simple navy overalls and still towering over them at 6.8ft. Snow white hair clinging neatly to his wide forehead, and his skin shone still with the same strange onyx hue as his scales.

"We were sparring Trix. Ivan here has a mad lack of control over his dragon form and freaked out when Nerk landed a dirty hit on him." Jake tried to excuse them, feeling extremely run down by his day of work.

"I ain't no mongrel!" Fred protested from his nest of cloth, his voice uncharacteristically weak from fatigue.

"Why exactly are we here?" Ivan finally asked, noting that the mess hall was empty save for late night stranglers making themselves cups of tea or cocoa.

Spud spoke up, placing his own cup of cocoa down. "Jake said a guy he met was able to whip us up some grub seeing how we missed dinner with the fight and all."

"_Hola, mi amigos!_" Gabriel Domingo erupted from the kitchen, a massive serving cart clearing the path. "Jake told me that you all missed dinner so I asked the cooks and they allowed me to use the kitchen."

A gigantic steaming pot was placed at the table's centre, a strong scent of chestnuts and duck fat irradiating off it. A pitcher of strawberry and lemonsweet was set nearby, it''s glass fogging up as ice cubes danced around it's pink elixir. A salad of fiddlehead ferns and grape leaves was paired with a large serving tray of mushrooms stuffed with caramelized onions, sausage and goat cheese.

The group's jaws all simultaneously dropped and their stomachs cry out in hunger, realising just how long it had been since they had last eaten.

"I hope I did well for my first try." The Mexican commented shyly, serving out even portions of all dishes and drink. "I had experimented a bit with some magical methods and they worked quite well. Please eat and tell me what you think."

They all hurriedly shoved mouthfuls of spoons and forks passed their lips, only savouring the tastes as the worst of the hunger pains ebbed off. The young cook sat nervously at the free chair, so sure that he had failed or poisoned his guests.

"Marry him." Spud commanded to particularly no one. "Marry him, steal his magic cooking skills, and then marry him again."

"This is crazy good, boy! I gotta start following Jake more if he keeps running into people like you." Trixie said in between sips of the smooth chestnut soup.

"This is pretty damn tasty. Good onya." Fred admitted, trying to hide his face under one of the jackets draped around his front.

Gabriel blushed deeply, proud of how his new-found friends praised his cooking. His eyes trailed over to the American, still entirely focused on eating, and sighed contently. His affection for the smaller male had not quelled in the slightest but had grown larger with each passing hour.

"This is amazing." Jake said in a quite tone, not meaning for the chef to hear. With those three words, Gabriel felt that his heart was about to burst.

His infatuation was broken by Ivan's observations. "You've read Game of Thrones correct? I remember one or two of these dishes appearing in them and I am very fond of the books."

Gabriel leaned back, trying to wipe the blush from his face with a napkin. "I have in fact, some of the recipes in the books were mentioned by the cooking staff. Not too far off by magical standards by the looks of it."

The group continued to converse. About books, about home life, about personal interests, and by the time the hour hand of the wall clock struck twelve, they had become quite close indeed. Even the three suitors, at first ready to tear each others head off, were now slapping each other on the backs and talking with behaviour that could be considered civil.

When the last of the bowls and glasses were cleared away by the staff, the group made their way outside and began walking towards their respective cabins.

"I'm gonna go for a wander. You go on ahead Jake." Fred yawned, his temperature now at a stable level. He waved to his bunk mate as he ran off towards their cabin, feeling light-headed in a good sort of way. Turning to his rivals he smirked smugly. "I think I did well for the day."

"You injured my wing, of course that will serenade him." The Russian guffawed sarcastically, the said wing was now shifted back into his body but he could still feel the dull throb in his right shoulder.

"You broke the Russian World Dragon and talked about Lord of the Rings for twenty minutes."

"It was Game of Thrones and he enjoyed the tv version!"

"Gentlemen your spar has obviously captivated him. He was staring at your muscles every time you moved and hung onto your every word. But to be honest I have the highest odds because I cooked dinner. So Neh!" Gabriel stuck his tongue out cheekily, laughing as the two other males started chasing him around the lake side.

All three let loose. Rarely, with early adulthood and personal trials taking up their childhood, did they ever have enough time to well, be children. It was a great relief to find some one or two who would chase you and be chased by you.

As they shamelessly played tag, Spun and Trixie looked on from the safety of the med-hut.

"What kinda progress are they talking about Trix? They trying to release unholy evil?" The slacker turned mage asked jokily, ready to head off to bed.

"Nah. They just crushing on our little dragon master is all. Big bet is going around camp on who'll win him over." She sighed dreamily, putting her hands under her chin. "Think off the money I'll get when tall, dark, and handsome wins."

Spud thought this over and offered five dollars. "I pick the Mexican chef guy."

"You picking him cus' he has a better chance or because you want more of his cooking?" Trixie took the fee, reminding herself to give it to Yasha later.

"The latter. I'm planning on having him cater for my future wedding as we speak." He confirmed, walking towards his quarters for some much needed rest.

**-This took a while I'll admit it, I had planned to make this a much larger chapter but I instead decided to focus mainly on the Suitor's motivations and initial attempts at wooing Jake. Fun fact: I sleep talk and the "Ten Towels? That's impossible!" was a thing I actually I said once while on holiday. Hope y'all like how I made the suitors actually get along instead of it being all bile and vitriol. Please leave a review and I'll get back to you all later! :D**


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